


there’s still time to change the road you’re on

by buddybabie



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Billy Hargrove Being an Asshole, Billy Hargrove Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove Is Bad at Feelings, Billy Hargrove Needs a Hug, Billy Hargrove Redemption, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Gay Billy Hargrove, Gen, Good Babysitter Steve Harrington, M/M, billy is a gay mentor for a gay will byers, does this count as slowburn? probably not, i take so many liberties with the timeline don’t yell at me pls, this is very billy-centric can you tell?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:22:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25499791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buddybabie/pseuds/buddybabie
Summary: “Shit!” Steve takes off running back towards the house as Billy is sent flying backwards, his knees knocked out from under him. Billy is just getting back on his feet when he realizes that Steve isn’t even looking at him. He’s looking at the space right behind him. Steve shouts into the house“Dustin, man, get me my fucking bat. Dustin, give me my fucking bat!” Steve is just about screaming.Billy hears some more yelling overlap and Steve comes out of the house with a giant fucking baseball bat in his grip. It has nails sticking out of it from all sides and he’s  wielding it like he was a goddamn baseball star.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley & Billy Hargrove, Will Byers & Billy Hargrove
Comments: 30
Kudos: 166





	1. dazed and confused

**Author's Note:**

> my first chaptered fic! i’ll update as much as physically possible. thanks to my wonderful boyfriend for reading it and putting up with my horrible ranting. find me @billyhairington on my harringrove blog on tumblr!

Billy is a bit freaked out by now. He knew Harrington was weird, turned bitch by that prissy chick who ended up hooking up with another guy. He knew that he hung around a bunch of preteens now, only because Max has weaseled her way into the nerd squad Steve had constantly trailing him. Anyways, he knew that Steve Harrington got weird just before he came to town, it’s all that Tommy ever talks about, but Billy hopes like hell that it’s not the type of weird he thinks. 

Billy steps out of his Camaro and takes a drag of his smoke. 

“Am I dreaming or is that you, Harrington?”

“Yeah, it’s me, don’t cream your pants.” Steve is standing on the porch with his hands on his hips. 

Billy takes a deep breath and wrangles his jacket off and throws it in the car. If he has to be here talking to Harrington any longer the humidity is gonna kill him. Steve starts walking closer. “What are you doing here, amigo?” 

“I could ask you the same thing.” Steve strides towards him and looks him in the eyes.

“Looking for my stepsister. A little birdy told me she was here.” Billy glances towards the nearly empty house. No cars were outside. He could see movement in the windows. 

“That’s weird, I don’t think I’ve ever-,” Steve starts, looking side to side nervously. “Small, redhead, bit of a bitch?” Billy shifts slightly to get Steve to look him in the eyes again. 

“Doesn’t ring a bell, sorry buddy.”

Billy takes the smoke out of his mouth. Something’s up. “I don’t know, this whole situation here. It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

“Yeah, why’s that?”

“My thirteen year old sister goes missin’ all day, and then I find her with you in a strangers house, and then, you lie to me about it.” Billy’s just about ready to start something. It’s gonna be his ass if Maxine is hurt. Steve just looks to the side again. “ _Meet my fuckin’ eyes.”_ Billy thinks.

“Man, were you dropped too much as a baby or what?” Steve starts. Billy takes another drag and wags his tongue out. Yeah, something’s definitely up. “I don’t know what you don’t understand about what I just said. She’s not here.” Steve says, but Billy’s not listening. He just looks Steve right in the eyes and tries not to gouge them out. 

“Then who’s that?” Billy goes to motion in the direction of the faces staring through the front window, but he gets knocked off his feet by something. 

“Shit!” Steve takes off running back towards the house as Billy is sent flying backwards, his knees knocked out from under him. Billy is just getting back on his feet when he realizes that Steve isn’t even looking at him. He’s looking at the space right behind him. Steve shouts into the house “Dustin, man get me my fucking bat, man. Dustin, give me my fucking bat!” Steve is just about screaming. Billy hears some more yelling overlap and Steve comes out of the house with a giant fucking baseball bat in his grip. It had nails sticking out of it from all sides and he was wielding it like he was a goddamn baseball star.

Billy struggles to his feet and takes a look at what Steve and all the brats were staring at. He comes face to face with a big dog about human-size, but instead of a dog face it looks like a venus flytrap. 

_“I didn’t learn about these in third grade science class.”_ Billy thinks, a hysterical laugh bubbling up in his throat before he does the only thing that he thinks to do. 

He punches the thing. 

It wasn’t a weak punch, Billy knows how to fight. If he didn’t, he’d be dead by now. But this thing just acts like it’s nothing. There’s dead silence for a moment before the thing opens its giant petal face and it smells like rot. 

Suddenly, to his side, Billy feels a push and Steve is there swinging his bat at the thing like a fucking maniac. Billy thinks he can hear the curly haired one cheering as Steve bashes it with the monstrosity of a bat until it’s just a pile of sticky black and it smells like decaying flowers and rotting meat and something he can’t quite put his finger on. Billy can’t do anything but blink, his body frozen on the ground in shock.

Steve turns around to face him, and reaches out a hand. “Nice moves you got there.” Steve starts weakly.

Billy pulls himself out of his shock and hoists himself up on his own. He shuffles back, not wanting to leave Steve behind him after seeing what he just did to that...thing. He turns around and faces the kids on the porch. He makes eye contact with Maxine. 

“Alright, shitbirds, you got a lot of explaining to do. I suggest you start now.”

  
  
  
  


……………………..

  
  
  


Steve takes a deep breath. The fact that he isn’t getting paid for this is bullshit. He was left on the bench to babysit the kids while everyone else went off a played hero, and if that wasn’t enough, now the brats are all squished into the back of Billy fucking Hargrove’s Camaro with Dustin screaming in his ear as Steve sits in the front. Billy’s playing some rock shit way too loud on his radio and trying to keep up with the kids wild directions. 

“Everyone shut the fuck up! Henderson, where the hell are we going?” Billy shouts over the music. Steve sinks a little more into his seat. Billy notices and grins. “You alright, pretty boy?” 

“You try killing a creature from another world and tell me about it sometime, would ya?” Steve scoffs.

“Steve, he punched the demodog. He just punched it. It was so cool! It didn’t really work, of course, but he did it anyways and it was-“ Dustin is yelling into Steve’s ear excitedly. Steve fumes silently at the notion creeping into his head of Billy being Dustin’s new hero or whatever the hell. Dustin wouldn’t shut up about him since they’d been able to tell the whole story to Billy, who surprisingly enough, believed them. 

He had just said “Sounds about right.” and exhaled a puff of smoke. When Steve had asked him why the hell he was so calm about all this, he’d just shrugged and said “Well, I did say this shithole was the fuckin’ Twilight Zone.” and he had left it at that. He had agreed to help them and told everyone that they could use his car on a few conditions. 1) He drives and 2) it’s his music. 

So here they are, Led Zeppelin’s album _I Can't Quit You, Baby_ rumbling through the speakers of Billy’s Camaro at an ungodly volume, on their way to certain death. 

“Alright, alright, everyone shut up. Henderson, directions? Your friends ain’t gonna save themselves.” Billy bites back a grin at Dustin’s praise and feels a little pang of embarrassment for _punching a fucking monster from another dimension, jesus christ._

Dustin goes “Man, I don’t know!” and starts babbling about something else before Max, who had been staring silently directly in front of her basically since Billy had shown up, finally pipes up with a “Mount Sinai is the next right, it says on the sign.” before shutting her mouth. 

“Finally someone with some good fuckin’ directions. I’m rubbing off on you, I guess, Maxine, right?” Billy shouts back. Max just rolls her eyes. “Fuck off.”

“I’m doing you and your nerd friends a favor, aren’t I? You could stand to be a little fuckin’ nicer, Max. I could turn this damn car around if I wanted to.” 

Steve snorts at that. “Yeah, okay, dad.” 

Billy’s voice gets low. “Dad? You callin’ me Daddy, pretty boy?” Steve almost chokes on his own saliva.

“Shut the fuck up, Hargrove, I’m just saying. _I’ll turn this car around._ It’s pretty dad-ish. I don’t know.” Steve finishes lamely as Billy makes the right turn onto the dirt road in the woods. 

Billy just laughs his dirty cackle laugh and slaps Steve’s thigh before turning the music up even louder. 

_“Don't know where you're goin', only know just where you've been. Sweet little baby, I want you again,”_ Billy sings out into the night ahead of them, aware of the monsters that wait for them at the end of the road. Steve catches himself humming along. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. here comes the sunday driver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they’re in the tunnels.
> 
> *chapter title from the raconteurs ‘sunday driver’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a shorter chapter, but more is coming!

The rest of the car ride is less than smooth. With the brats yelling in the back, and  _ King Steve _ sulking in his front seat, Billy’s night just seems to be getting weirder. Of course, this option is better than his earlier conclusion. Actually, is it? Crazy fucking government conspiracies, a girl with superpowers, evil creatures from another world. Is that really the better option here? Billy almost snorts and decides not to think about it because, if all works out, he’ll wake up tomorrow and he and Maxine will both be in their beds, him with only minor bruises from getting his ass beat by Neil, and little to no memory of the dream that must be playing in his head tonight. But he can enjoy making Steve squirm a little bit. It is only a dream, right?

Billy pulls his car off the road and comes to a halting stop at the edge of a field. “Alright, shitheads, get out of my car.” Billy steps out and lights another cigarette. 

“C’mon, man, we’re about to go destroy some  _ monsters _ from another  _ dimension _ and you really need a smoke right now?” Steve groans out as he flips his  _ awful pomp of a hairdo _ out of his face.

“Well, pretty boy, I think that’s as good of a reason as any for having a smoke.” Billy smiles a saccharine smile at him. He’s becoming less and less sure this is a dream, with the way his heart is pounding in his chest and the way he can feel the smoke hit the back of his throat every time he takes a drag. The night air is still humid for the season, and they’re all on edge by now, and Billy can see sweat slowly dripping down Steve’s forehead. 

Before he can help himself, he reaches out as if he was gonna wipe it off. He catches himself, though, and instead he gives Steve a quick swat of his hand on his cheek, almost patronizing. 

“Ok, man what the hell?” Steve looks at him with a confused expression, but before he can voice his protests, the Wheeler brat starts speaking. 

“Guys, we need to focus! El is out there trying to  _ save _ us, and Will isn’t here, and all the adults just left us and we’re all just sitting on our asses. Let’s get down there!” 

“I don’t know what the hell you're talking about, bowlcut, but yeah let’s go kick some monster ass. Henderson, you lead?” Billy motions at the curly-haired one. Steve’s eyes narrow. 

“Like hell he’s leading! If any of these lil shits get hurt, it’s my ass on the line. I’m leading.” 

Steve pushes through the small gaggle of kids and stands at the edge of a medium-sized hole covered in what looks like...sticky black cobwebs. 

He ties a bandana around his face and puts on a pair of comically small yellow swim goggles. Billy looks around to see the rest of the kids doing the same. Billy lets out a laugh. Max is standing next to him wearing a pair of  _ Gremlins  _ goggles and a dark blue bandana she pulls up around her mouth and nose like a face mask. She holds up a matching blue bandana to hers and a pair of neon green swim goggles that seem to have rhinestones studded into the top. Billy stares in disbelief. 

“You’re kidding, right?” 

“Sorry.” Max doesn’t look very sorry “They were the only ones we had on hand. Neil got them for me when Mom and him first got married and I hated them, but I kept them anyway because they might come in handy.” 

“Then why don’t you wear them?” 

“Well, I was already friends with them, so I had goggles before. Beggars can’t be choosers.” 

Max hands him the hideous goggles and bandana before skipping away. The look in her eyes might be a little too gleeful.

“Maxine, I swear-“ Billy cuts off with a sigh. He carelessly throws his cigarette out and hears a sound and almost screams. It had landed on one of the vines sticking out of the ground and he sees a small plume of smoke still rising from the ground. 

Steve is at his side and claps him on the shoulder and says “They don’t like fire. Amigo.” before yelling “Alright, assholes, stay behind me. And don’t take off your shit.” He adds with a pointed look at Billy. 

“Sir, yes sir.” Billy mumbles as he snaps on his goggles and ties his face covering. The fuck kinda dream  _ is  _ this? For good measure, as they’re entering the tunnels, he comes up beside Max and snaps the band to her goggles against her head. 

“Hey!”

Steve turns around to see Max looking like she’s about to punch Billy, and Billy trying to look as innocent as possible. 

“He snapped me!” 

“Yeah, I’ll snap you again if you don’t. Shut. Up.” Billy retorts back. Steve just rolls his eyes and turns back to talk to Dustin. The Sinclair kid looks like he’s burning up with something to say about the two of them, but he keeps quiet. 

“You got something to say,  _ Lucas? _ ” Billy snarls out. Lucas hesitates slightly before answering, but words start spilling out. 

“I don’t get it! Why are you being so calm about this? I thought you hated us! All you do is be an asshole to Max,” Lucas turns his attention to speak to Max. “I thought you guys hated each other! He’s a  _ dick _ , Max. Why are you guys being so _ normal? _ ” The last sentence comes out in a final huff of breath. 

Max and Billy both open their mouths to reply as Dustin starts screaming. The kid’s got a set of pipes. Max settles for slugging Lucas in the arm before rushing over to Dustin.

“I got it in my mouth! Steve, I’m gonna die! Tell my mom I love her. Guys, I’m gonna die, I got shit in my mouth!” Dustin is screaming his lungs out. Steve slaps Dystin’s dropped bandana to his mouth.

“Well, get it out, and stop yelling! We don’t have all day.” Steve tried to look apathetic, but he looks genuinely worried about the kid. 

_ “Maybe King Steve is a good babysitter.”  _ Billy thinks to himself before continuing on. Billy reaches out a hand to Dustin before Steve can manage and Dustin happily takes his hand, hearts practically in his eyes. Steve just huffs and strides ahead. Billy grins from behind his face covering.  _ “He’s awful cute when he’s mad.” _ Billy thinks before he registers what the thought was. Electing to ignore it, he just grits his teeth and follows after. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you guys for reading! i know it said it was a finished work for the first chapter, but that’s just because i’m a mess and pressed the wrong button when i was setting things up for this fic lmao


	3. they’re teaching me to kill, who’s teaching me to love?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tunnels pt. 2, in which i hope everyone can see how much i absolutely adore dustin henderson.
> 
> also yes i took a few liberties in the order of events or whatever but i’m the author so. cry about it.

They slowly make their way to...somewhere. Billy can’t see anything, really, but the kids seem to know where they’re going and with Steve in front, they actually have a clear path set out for them. They walk mostly in silence, minus, Dustin’s questioning of Steve in the front. They seem to be talking about girls and it’s so  _ freakishly normal  _ to Billy that he can’t help but eavesdrop. Steve is acting all like a big brother, high and mighty and annoyed at the curly-haired preteen for asking him so many questions, but Billy sees Steve being so different than he is at school, caring and he actually looks like he might be giving good advice; at least, Billy would think so if he didn’t know that Steve hadn’t gotten any tail since Billy came to town. Still, it tugs at his heart a little bit.

Billy reaches over and snaps Max’s goggles again. She just goes “Hey!” and tries to be annoyed, but Billy can feel some of the tension between them dissolve further. Sinclair must be feeling it too, because he’s looking at them suspiciously, like Billy is a pod person or some shit, but he doesn’t mention anything about his earlier comment. Billy will take that as a win. Since this is just a dream, he’s allowed to take what he can get. If he wants to maybe be an actual big brother for once, he might as well do it now, where there’s no consequences. 

Ever since Billy had come to the conclusion that he was in a weird ass dream, he’d let his guard down a little. It won’t hurt Max if he’s just a little better, a little more relaxed and less angry. He still feels a little shaken up from earlier and pulling on his stepsisters pigtails seems to quell something inside of him. 

Despite the whole “crazy other dimension” shit, Billy might actually be happy. So he flirts with Harrington, in that mean way of his, because his dad will never find out. He messes with Max, like a real big brother would, because he doesn’t have to worry about her actually caring. As far as he’s concerned, this is the closest he’s been to Cali in a while, stumbling through dark tunnels with a bunch of preteens, his little sister, the former king of Hawkins High that he  _ thinks  _ might use the same hairspray as his ex-fuckbuddy back in Cali, on their way to help Wheeler’s girlfriend that has superpowers and is trying to stop the end of the world. What else is there to do in this hick town?

Steve comes to an abrupt stop. He looks around. “Hey Mike, you bring the stuff?” The Wheeler kid nods and holds up a red gallon canister.

_ How the hell did Billy not notice he was holding that? _

Steve turns to Billy, and Billy shakes himself out of his surprise that this twelve year old looking asshole was hauling cans of gasoline down to the end of the world.  _ “Dream logic’s fucking weird.”  _ Billy thinks.

“Hey, Hargrove. You got a lighter?” 

Billy snorts and hands it to Steve. Wheeler starts pouring gasoline over something at the edge of the tunnel. Steve walks the kids back a few steps before gripping his horrible fucking bat in one hand and Billy’s lighter in the other. Mike makes his way back behind the kids as Steve flicks open the flame. Billy just makes the connection as to  _ what the hell is happening _ and is about to protest and snatch his lighter back when Steve throws it up in the air and all the kids watch it drop onto the pile of vines. 

“Well, fucking run!” Steve shouts and the kids and Billy start sprinting for their lives back the way they came from. 

All too soon, Billy sees one of the monsters from the house up ahead. “Steve!” 

Steve and Dustin have stopped near the exit to the tunnel. Dustin is looking sadly at the giant creature. “Dart?”

The creature snarls.

“Get back, get back!” Mike is yelling, Lucas is practically strangling Max’s hand by now with how tight he’s holding it. Dustin shushes everyone, his voice shaking. 

“Trust me.” Dustin turns his full attention on the creature. “Hey, it’s your friend. It’s Dustin.” He leans down and takes his goggles off, crouching to come near the creature. 

Billy looks at Steve like “ _ Is he fucking crazy?”  _ but Steve is just staring sadly at Dustin and the monster. 

“You remember me?” The creature stills. “Will you let us pass?” Then the thing opens its jaws again. This time though, it’s more subdued. “Yeah, ok alright. I’m sorry about the storm cell. It was kind of a douchey thing to do. You hungry?” The group stares in amazement as Dustin takes out a candy bar from his back pocket. 

“This isn’t safe.” Lucas whispers. 

“Shut up.” Mike and Max whisper back.

“I’ve got your favorite.” Dustin’s voice is shaking even more. “Nougat!” He holds up the candy bar to the creature and quickly unwraps it and places it in front of the thing carefully. 

“Alright, there you go buddy.” Dustin stands there looking at the creature as Steve quietly leads the kids around it, and to the entrance. “Yeah buddy, I’ve got more.” He puts the rest of the bar down on the ground and stands up. 

The creature just looks at them skirting around him, then looks at Dustin and Billy is  _ sure  _ something bad is gonna happen. Then, the creature just looks down and continues eating as Billy and Steve hoist the kids out the tunnel exit. 

Dustin gives the thing one last sad look and puts his goggles back on. “Bye, buddy.”

Steve pats his back. “Let’s go, lets go!” He whispers urgently and Dustin follows. 

  
  


—————-

Billy’s idea that this was all a dream comes crashing down within seconds of getting out of that tunnel. He saw the vines go up in flames and he saw Dustin feeding that hellhound candy bars. Even completely disregarding the feeling of fire licking at his feet as he ran, and writing off the hellhounds and the vines as a hallucination, he can’t really deny it anymore. This shit is definitely real if only because  _ “I’m pretty fucked up, but I’m not fucked up enough to be dreaming something like this.”  _

As they all crawl out of the flaming tunnel, the kids rip their headgear off and start coughing up a storm and laughing their little asses off. Dustin and Mike are hugging each other and Steve has Lucas in a noogie position and he’s  _ laughing  _ and  _ smiling  _ like Billy has never seen before and he must be going absolutely loopy or something from that tunnel must be fucking up his thoughts because he looks  _ fucking beautiful.  _

Max is cheering too, she slugs Lucas in the shoulder as she laughs hysterically, her hair flying everywhere. She’s so caught up in the moment that she doesn’t even realize the fact that she’s hugging Billy around the waist. 

Billy does notice this and he almost pushes her away, but then he feels her tense and her breathing almost stop as she feels what she’s doing and his heart breaks  _ just a little more _ , so he keeps her there and lightly puts his arms around her. 

No one notices the moment between them, but Billy thinks he can see Steve looking at them warmly. When he looks up, the kids are still whooping and Steve is just standing there looking at all of them them with a small smile on his face. His hair is messed up and flat and he has his hands on his hips and he looks like a fucking _ mom _ , so Billy of course has to break the moment. 

“Harrington, you took my fucking lighter!” Billy tries to harden his voice, but it comes out higher and breathier than he expected it to. No one comments on this, though.

“It was for the greater good! I’ll even buy you a new one. It’ll even be a fancy one, skulls and crossbones printed on the side.” Steve teases. 

Billy rolls his eyes. “Ok, whatever, Harrington. Just know, you owe me.” 

Steve just grins. 

“Now, everybody, back in the car!” Steve yells.

“If you get any shit on my seats, you’re all dead.” Billy follows, and gives Max a quick squeeze on the shoulder and a flick on the back of her head before going to turn the car on. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title is from mcr’s ‘gun’


	4. could we wipe the slate clean?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which hopper is a bad actor, neil is an asshole, and max asks for a ceasefire.

As Max and Billy drive home, they don’t talk. Max just sits quietly in the front seat and stares right in front of her. The car smells like sweat and a Duran Duran album is filtering through the speakers. 

Billy bumps his leg up and down to the rhythm as he tries to think of a convincing story to tell Neil as to why they’re four hours past curfew, and why it’s been five hours since Neil had sent Billy to get Max. If it was just Billy, he’d probably just beat his ass and be done with it, but since Max was with him, Susan probably was halfway to calling the police. 

Pulling up in the driveway, Billy sees two figures in the doorway of his house. One is his dad and the other is… _ oh shit.  _

Billy can hear the voices of Neil and the  _ policeman _ talking. He turns off the car and turns to Max, who is still silent. 

“Hey, kid, I know we’re not best friends, and we’re never gonna be, but look at me. Look at me, Max.” Billy waits until she meets his eyes. “You follow my lead, you back me up, and I’ll make sure nothing happens to you, alright? You got that?” He says, motioning to the people on the doorstep. “Now get out, and try and look like you aren’t a little pain in the ass.” 

Max takes a second and looks over his face. Billy feels too exposed as she searches for something. She must’ve found whatever she was looking for, though, because then nods and steps out of the car, even waiting for Billy to get out before she makes her way to the porch. 

“...some great kids, Neil. You should be very proud.” The policeman laughs, and pretends to only just now notice the two kids walking up to the porch. “Hey, you two. I thought I’d beat you here. I was just explaining to your dad what you guys did tonight.” 

The officer speaks in a gruff tone, and while he keeps his voice lighter than his facial expression, Billy can tell that he  _ knows _ what’s really going on, better than either of them, probably. 

Beside him, Billy can feel Max opening her mouth to say some stupid shit like “He’s not my dad.” or something equally as damning, but she ends up shutting her mouth quickly. Billy just tries to keep a neutral look on his face, and nods once at the officer.

“Uh yeah. No problem.” 

Max just stands there with a dumb look on her face before Billy pinches her and she jumps. 

“Yeah, no problem.” Max mumbles, looking down. 

“But seriously! The Henderson kid had gotten all of his friends out looking for that damn cat, and you two were there right when we needed ya. We couldn’t have done it without you two.” He smiles a kind smile and winks at Max, but Billy can see the grave look behind his expression as he meets Billy’s eyes. 

“Especially you, son, the animal attacks have been pretty crazy lately, so I’m glad that everyone was able to make it out _ safely _ .” He claps Billy on the shoulder and gives him one last significant look as Billy connects all the dots. 

“No, thank you, Officer…” Neil starts but trails off. 

“Hopper, sir.” Officer Hopper says gruffly to Neil, and shakes his hand. “Well, I’ll be heading home, after such a crazy night, but you all take care.” 

Neil blocks Max and Billy’s entrance into the house, so all they can do is watch as Hopper climbs into his car and leaves. As soon as they see he’s actually gone, Max slips into the house and Billy can hear Susan cooing over her. 

Billy tries to make his escape into the warm light of the house, but as he passes, Neil grips him hard on the shoulder. Billy freezes. 

“I don’t know what the hell that was about, boy, I know what the man said, but you bet your ass that if you bring a cop in this house one more time, I don’t give a damn what the reason is, you’re dead.” Neil hisses in his ear with a smile. 

Billy feels his stomach lurch. “Yeah, okay.” He mumbles, and tries to push his way past, but Neil grabs his chin. 

“What was that? I didn’t hear you.” All remnants of a smile gone from Neil’s face. 

“Yes sir, I’m sorry, sir.” Billy looks him in the eyes as he pronounces every consonant. 

Neil holds his face for one second before nodding and letting him go into the kitchen, where Susan and Max were there. Max’s cheeks were all red from where Susan was pinching them, and Max sent a look over her shoulder at Billy that said “get me out of here”. Billy would laugh if he could. 

“Now, you two have had a hectic and very late night, so straight to bed.” Neil directs them as he comes up to Max and squeezes her shoulder in a gesture that was probably meant to be supportive, but Billy can see her tense slightly.

As the two of them make their way to bed, they keep looking at each other, speaking in a language that Billy isn’t even sure he knows. Eventually, when Max sends him an especially earnest look, he sticks his tongue out and spits his mouthful of toothpaste in the sink. She rolls her eyes. 

Billy’s about to take his shirt off and get into his bed when he hears a soft knock at his door, and sees a small slip of paper slide under it. 

On the paper it reads, in small, messy font, 

_ Truce? _

Billy stares at it for a long second before climbing into bed, note in hand. He crumples it up and almost sends it flying into the trashcan when he stops himself. He unfolds the paper and looks at it once more. Then he gets up and takes out his box full of music from his closet. 

Billy thinks to himself for a moment, before stuffing the note into a Pink Floyd vinyl case. He feels something in himself soften as he climbs back into bed. He’s so tired he can’t even bring himself to repair the wall in his chest he feels crumbling down as he drifts off. He’ll get it in the morning. “ _ Well, goodnight, Hawkins.”  _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title is from pink floyd’s ‘lost for words’.
> 
> also i promise it’ll pick up from here on out! i just needed to get some of this stuff out of the way, but next chapter will be the start of season 3, with much more harringrove, will byers, and (my favorite) robin!!!!


	5. our love will find a way (as long as we believe in love)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> robin and billy are friends. also robins a lil shit.

“Hey, Dingus! Your kids are here!” Robin shouts behind the counter. Mike, Lucas, Max, and Will are all standing behind the counter grinning. 

“Again?” Steve groans. Mike nods, and Steve groans again, but leads them through the “Employees Only” door by the counter and into the back. 

“Listen, if anyone finds out about this, you’re dead, alright?” Steve tells them as they slip into the hallway leading directly into the movie theatre. “Dead, you hear me?” The kids just laugh. 

Steve walks into the space behind the counter just for Robin to grab his arm and direct him the opposite way. 

“Rob, what the hell?” He whines as she pushes him out of the swinging door by the counter 

“Your kids are here. You’re the only one who drives them anywhere, so how’d they get here?” Robin says slowly, waiting for him to catch up. 

“I don’t know, maybe their parents dropped them off. Like normal parents do. Instead of making a teenage boy babysit them all the time.” 

“Nope. And anyways that’s not the point. The point is that there's someone outside for you.” Robin points just beyond the entrance of the shop, and snatches his hat simultaneously. 

Steve looks at where she’s pointing and _Jesus Christ_. Steve groans again. 

“Are you getting a cold? You sure are clearing your throat a lot today.” Robin says pointedly, before shoving him again. 

“Hey! Watch it, I'm going, Jesus.” Steve rubs his shoulder from where she pushed him, and makes his way towards the blond asshole. 

Steve drags his feet up to him. What do you want? I’m working, and-,” Billy cuts him off. 

“I got the job, man.” Billy says with a grin. Steve feels his voice soften. 

“That’s awesome!” Steve can’t help but grin back. 

“Yeah, it is. Which means, if you ever want the brat pack to stop loitering around your shop for a little while, just tell Max and send them over.” 

“That would actually be great, man. I’m always scared my boss is going to walk in and see them heckling me to let them in through the back, and boom, I’d be out on my ass.” 

“You love those fuckers, though.” Billy’s lips are turned up in a small smile and his eyes are lit with mischief. 

“I’d love them more if they’d leave me alone. Robin calls them ‘my kids’, I think she thinks I’m a man-whore or somethin’. Also, speaking of Robin…” Steve leans in conspiratorially. “Does she like me or what?” He smiles and licks his lips, then frowns when Billy bursts out cackling. 

“In your dreams, Harrington.” Billy says through his laughter. “I don’t think you’re her type, if you know what I mean.” Billy raises an eyebrow. Steve just blinks back.

“Hey, dingus! Get your butt back in here, we have _paying customers_ , you know.” Robin yells, giving Billy a look. Billy winks at her and she exaggeratedly winks back. Steve groans _again._

“Sounds like she’s _really_ into you, _dingus_ _._ Billy teases.

“Hey, you never know. Anyways, I gotta go. Rob looks like she’s about to murder me. You’re probably right, if she liked me she probably wouldn’t be as much of an asshole.

“If you _still_ want to try your luck, I always have her number, Harrington.” Billy says with a cheeky wink.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyways, congrats on your job, man! I’ll talk to the kids and I’ll send ‘em over someday soon. Just, uh- here.”   
  


Steve grabs a napkin and a pen from his pocket and scrawls his number on it. “That’s my personal number, if you need something while I’m working I’m at the store. But you already know that, I guess.” Steve laughs, rubbing his palm over the back of his neck.

“Alright, pretty boy. Don’t wear yourself out too much.” Billy winks at him and Steve runs back behind the counter. 

Billy feels like his heart is going to _explode,_ his palms all sweaty, it’s really pathetic, if he’s being honest with himself. He doesn’t know why he didn’t have Steve’s number earlier, but now he _does_ and he knows it isn’t even _like that_ , not to Steve at least, but _let him have this._

_“Yeah, don’t get your panties in a twist.”_ Billy can hear Steve telling Robin, and he watches her flick a towel at him, before she turns to make eye contact with Billy. She’s looking right at him as she pulls out her stupid whiteboard and makes a single, and the only, black tally in the section labeled _You Rule._ Billy scowls and flips her off and she sticks her tongue out at him, but there’s no heat behind either of the actions. 

_“See, I told you! Wait, actually what was that for? Rob, please what did I do?”_

_“Harrington, how much of an idiot can you be?_

Billy just sighs.

  
  


——————-

  
  


Robin and Billy met in AP English. 

They were supposed to be writing essays on like _divine intervention in modern epics_ , but Robin was sitting directly behind Billy and whatever he was writing was decidedly not about modern epics. 

_How does it feel babe_

_To kill our destiny_

_I swear I'm not gonna crawl oh no_

_How does it feel babe_

_To make a fool out of me_

_How can you be so cold_

“You writing that for your girlfriend?” Robin pokes him in the back of the head. 

He slams his arm down on the table, and the teacher gives him a look. He gives her a sweet smile. “Fuck off.” He grumbles and starts pulling out his actual papers to do the assignment. 

“It’s not very good, no offense. I mean, it’s just too angsty for my tastes.” Robin continues. Billy looks at her in disbelief, searching her face to try and see if she’s joking. “I said no offense.” 

“It’s fuckin’ Scorpions.” He looks at her like that should mean something. 

“Yeah, I don’t like animals.” 

“You’ve _got to be fucking kidding me.”_ He mutters under his breath. “Sweetheart, it’s a band. They’re lyrics. And I don’t do girlfriends, so I don’t need any applications, okay?” He wags his tongue out of his mouth at her, looking through narrow eyes. 

Robin just laughs. “Yeah, no, sorry blondie, I know I’m cute, but you’re not my type.” 

“You’re the one who was talking to me!” 

“You’re the one who talked back.”

There’s a long silence, minus the scratching of pencils, that consists of them just staring at each other. 

“I’m Robin, by the way.” She reaches out her hand. Billy ignores it.

“I don’t care.” 

“I like your earring.” 

“Ok, listen, doll, I don’t care who the hell you are. I’m tryin’ to write a fuckin’ essay, and I think you should leave me to it.” Billy grinds his teeth. 

Robin grins at him. “Let’s cut a deal, I’ll leave you alone _if_ you show me your Rattlesnakes or whatever.”

“ _Scorpions.”_ Billy says through gritted teeth. 

“No, sorry I’m a Virgo.” 

“Ok fine! Whatever.” Billy slams his hands on the desk again, causing another student to his left to make a shushing noise at him. Billy seeths. “Fine, you fucking win. Meet me at my car at 4, if you’re late, I’m gonna switch my fucking schedule, I swear to god.” 

Robin just picks at one of his curls. “Hell yeah.” 

At the end of the period, Robin slips out of class without Billy being able to see where she went, but right at 3:59, Billy is about to get into his car when he sees her racing out of the building. He tips his head back and groans. “Alright shitbird, get in the car.” 

Robin just pulls open the passenger door and sits down next to Billy. He just stares ahead while she looks at him. “Well?”

“Well, what?” 

“Aren’t you going to play something? You promised me music and that’s why I came.” 

“I- I don’t- God, Jesus fucking Christ, I’m just- God!” Billy hits the steering wheel. 

“I can leave if you want.” Robin says sheepishly, already unbuckling her seatbelt. 

“No! No- no it’s fine. Just. God, I’m gonna put on some music, you’re gonna listen to it, then you’re gonna leave, right?” Billy asks exasperatedly. 

“Yeah, I mean, if that’s okay.” 

“Of course it’s okay. It’s always oh-fucking-kay.” Billy takes a deep breath in. “I just don’t know what the hell you want from me. Tell me something. I’m usually able to tell what people want but you. You! I can’t fucking figure you out! Just tell me what you fucking want!” Billy is yelling by now, but his voice falters towards the end, putting his head in his hands and groaning. 

“I want to be friends.” Robin says simply, her hands laying out in front of her. 

Billy takes another deep breath. “Why?” 

“I know you don’t do girlfriends...” Robin trails off.

“But you’re first in line? Doll, we’ve already been over this-,” Billy snorts, but he stops when he sees the expression on Robin’s face. 

“Don’t. Call me that. I know what you’re doing. I know why you don’t do girlfriends.” Robin takes a deep breath and avoids looking into Billy’s eyes. She knew that if she looked, she’d see a terrified little boy, and she needs to get through the next few words without freaking out. 

“How the fuck did you know that? You don’t just go around, accusing people of that shit.” Billy’s voice gets quiet. 

“Stop it! Let me fucking finish, god.” Robin starts up again. All of her words come out in a rush. “The reason you don’t do girlfriends is the same reason I don’t do boyfriends, and I want to be your friend, because goddamnit I’ve been alone for so fucking long, and I need a friend. You came to town, and I saw you, I saw you messing with _Steve Harrington_ of all people, and I thought you were just an asshole jock competing for some high school royalty shit, but then I saw you in the hallway the other day, and you were looking at him and I just _knew._ I knew you were like me because no matter how many girls throw themselves at you, you don’t do anything _real_ . You flirt and you flirt and you flirt, but you don’t fucking do anything, and you look at him and it fucking _killed me_ to watch! I know you! I was you, am you! I want to help you.”

Billy’s face drops and curls into a sneer. “Help me? You wanna convert me or some shit, princess? One of those _reformed queers?” Billy’s voice is shaking. “Get the fuck out of my car.”_

“Have you listened to a fucking word I was saying? I _am like you! I want to help you, asshole!”_ Robin feels wetness behind her eyes and prays to whatever’s out there that it doesn’t start pouring before she gets him to just _listen._

They sit there in silence before Billy, without a word, picks up a cassette from his glovebox, and slides it into the player. 

_How does it feel babe_

_To taste sweet revenge_

_Do you want me on my knees_

_How does it feel babe_

_To let me feel your strength_

_Don't be cruel, can't you see_

_If you don't catch me now_

_I can't stop falling down_

Billy is rapping his knuckles on the steering wheel as he hums. The song continues on and by the end of it, he looks to have calmed down. He turns to Robin. 

“Ok, shitbird. You like the song?” Robin smiles slightly and nods. 

“It’s still a bit angsty for my taste, not what I usually listen to, but it’s good.” 

“Well, you can bring Bach or Mozart or whatever the hell you listen to next time.” Billy teases lightly. Robin tries not to light up. 

“Yeah, yeah. Make fun of the classics, I see you.” Robin flicks him lightly on the shoulder. “Same time tomorrow?” 

Billy nods. 

“Oh, also. That was funny.” 

“What was funny?” 

“My name. Robin. You called me shit _bird,_ like Robin? Bird? Whatever, it was funny.” 

Billy grins a little bit. “Yeah. I guess it was.” 

“Bye, Billy.” 

“Bye, shitbird.” Billy nods at her as she exits the car. Then it hits him and he calls out after her “Hey, how did you know my name? Cmon!” 

Robin just winks at him. 

Max chooses that exact moment to come rolling up on her board. “Is that your girlfriend?” 

“Shut up, Maxine.” 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would absolutely die for robin buckley, no hesitation. also, a will and billy friendship is coming right up, y’all


	6. crazy, over the rainbow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> uhhh dustin comes from camp, billy takes over steve’s job for a shift, and they all decide to get some commies.

“Billy.”

“Shitbird.”

“ _Billy._ ”

“No.” 

“ _Billy!”_

“Jesus, can you at least talk to me when I’m not working?” Billy slides another stick of gum into his mouth.

“That’s literally the fourth piece of gum you’ve eaten during this _conversation,_ Billy.” Max whines, hands gripping the edge of Billy’s chair. 

“Don't touch the damn chair, shitbird! And I’ve got gum because I’m at work, and I can’t smoke, and you’re stressing me out. Sue me.” Billy says, unwrapping another piece of gum, and pretending to survey the pool again, despite the fact that nothing’s happening and nothing will happen for probably the rest of the day.

“ _Billy!”_ Max practically yells in his ear. “Can you please just take me to the mall with Lucas after you’re done? I won’t even say anything to Neil about you going off and seeing your girlfriend. _”_

“Girlfriend?” Billy raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah, Jesus, Billy, are you that much of an asshole, you’re just gonna pretend you don’t know her?”

“Max, I just don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“The one who works at the ice cream shop with Steve! You always hang out with her and listen to your stupid rock music way too loud, and you talk with her every time we go and get ice cream.”

“She's not my goddamn girlfriend, Max, and even if she was, tell Neil. I dont give a shit.And, also, the reason I talk to her every time we get ice cream, is because she _works at the damn store._

Max just rolls her eyes. “Just say yes?”

“Listen, if you drop it, carrot top, then maybe I’ll drop you off with your nerd ass boyfriend.”

“Oh, he’s not my boyfriend right now. I broke up with him yesterday.” 

“Then why the hell are you going to the arcade with him?”

“I’m willing to give second chances.” Max says with a _very_ pointed look that Billy does not appreciate, thank you. 

“Whatever, fine. I don’t care. Just be ready by the time I’m leavin’ or else, kid.” Billy groans as Max skips away. “ _And no running in the damn pool!”_

  
  


——————

  
  


“I’ll be back in 2 hours, shitbird. If you make me wait, you’re skating home, I swear to god, Max.”

“Yeah, okay.” Max snorts. “Have fun with your girlfriend!” 

“She’s not my fuckin’ girlfriend! Jesus Christ.” But Max is already slamming the door of the Camaro and running into the arcade.

Billy drives to the Starcourt Mall, parking by the _The Wall_ , and dropping by to get the new Kate Bush album for El, who Billy had discovered pretty quickly, likes just about any types of music she can get her hands on.

Then, he heads over to _Scoops_. When he gets there, there’s a few families and couples sitting in booths here and there, eating their ice cream, but no one behind the counter. So, Billy rings the bell and leans on the counter and Billy hears “It’s your turn, shithead!” and Steve groaning, so it’s no surprise that, two seconds later, Steve comes pushing out of the back door with an “Ahoy!”. 

Billy bursts out laughing. “Looking good, sailor.” 

Steve smiles big when he sees Billy. “Hey! Didn’t expect to see you today. I thought you were working today.” 

“Nah, Heather picked up a shift of mine. I needed a day to recover from the prying eyes of the Hawkins mom group.”

Steve lets out a groan. “Cmon, man, you love it. I bet it’s not just the moms that are looking either. Heather is fine as hell, and you’re not so bad yourself.”

Robin decides to choose that moment to come in from the back. 

“You two, take your flirting to the back, I don’t wanna see it.” Billy turns a little bit red at that, but Steve just laughs and tugs Billy into the back. 

“You wanna smoke?” Steve asks him.

“Can I do that back here? Isn’t there like company policy or some shit?” 

“I’ve been saying fuck company policy about two weeks into working here. Do you ever see me wearing that dumb little hat? It was totally killing my game.”

“Trust me, pretty boy, you don’t need game. And also, I don’t think it’s just company policy, I think it’s an actual fire hazard, man.”

Steve laughs. “Well, okay. I guess you don’t wanna use this _awesome new lighter_ I got you.” Steve pulls a lighter out, and true to his word from months ago, skulls and crossbones. 

“Woah, man!” Billy grabs it and studies the lighter, and when he runs his hand over it, he can feel the surface of it as being a bit rougher than the usual skin of a lighter. “Holy shit, Steve, did you paint this?” 

Steve shrugs. “I mean, a guy’s gotta have his hobbies, you know? And I owed you one so, uh, now it’s yours, I guess.” Steve smiles sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck. 

Billy wants to kiss those upturned lips, but settles for giving Steve a slap on the back. “It looks fuckin’ awesome man, absolutely badass. I love it.” 

All of a sudden, Steve’s head snaps up. Billy hears Robin talking in the front to someone. 

_“Is he here?”_

_“Is who here?”_

Steve jumps up and practically ploughs through the door. 

“Henderson!” Billy gets up and follows Steve out, where Steve is jumping up and down with Dustin. “He’s back!” 

“You got the job!” 

“I got the job!”

Billy and Robin watch Steve and Dustin do their nerd handshake and Billy just doesn’t know what to do. First the lighter, and now the guy he’s practically in love with is dancing around with one of his sisters preteen friends like it’s the fuckin’ _Brady Bunch_ and Billy could watch Steve honest-to-god _giggle_ like that forever. 

When Steve and Dustin just stand there, laughing at each other, Robin breaks him out of his trance with a “How many children are you friends with?” to Steve with a significant look at Billy. Billy flicks her upside the head. 

It’s then when Dustin notices Billy and his eyes go wide. “Billy!” He shouts again, and hugs him round his middle. “Yeah, yeah, Henderson. Have a good time at camp?”

“The best! Steve, I got a girlfriend!” 

“Shit, dude, really?”

“Yeah, her name’s Suzie, and she’s a _genius._ You can meet her someday, I bet. You’ll love her.”

“Speaking of girls, Henderson,” Billy interrupts with a grin. “I’ve been taking good care of your mom while you were gone.” Billy winks.

Dustin makes a gagging noise. “Gross! Stay away from my mom, she changed my diapers, you know.” 

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about _that_ mom. I was talking about Stevie over here.” Billy gives him a nice pat on the ass, and he thinks he can see Steve turn a darker shade. Robin gives him a look that Billy prays to god that Steve doesn’t see, and he flips her off behind him. 

“Whatever, man.” Steve says, face still red. 

Robin saves them all. “Banana splits, anyone?”

  
  


————

“Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No way.”

“Brilliant, too. And she doesn’t even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth.” 

Billy, who’s listening to their conversation from behind the counter, temporarily taking Steve’s job while he reunites with his kid, starts laughing his ass off. 

“Yeah, yeah, yuck it up, blondie!” Dustin shouts back, which sends Robin into a fit of giggles. Billy, who is now wearing Steve’s hat in an effort to imitate an actual uniform, steals her hat too, so when Steve looks up at him, he sees a grinning Billy with two sailor hats perched on top of each other serving two younger teenage girls. He gives them a wink as they go and they giggle. When he meets Steve’s eyes, his smile gets bigger, and his eyes scrunch up a little bit and Steve just stares back. 

“Wow. Yeah, that’s great. I’m proud of you, man. That’s ro- that’s so romantic. That’s like. Wow.” Steve thinks he can hear Billy still laughing softly in the background. 

“So, do you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?” Dustin asks, digging into his banana split. 

“Yeah, I mean, sure. It’s not a really good idea for me though because, I, uh, gotta keep in shape for the ladies.” 

“Yeah, and how’s that working out for you?” Robin says as she clears a table, and yeah that’s _definitely_ Billy laughing at him. 

“Ignore her.” 

“She seems cool.” Dustin says appreciatively. 

“She’s not.” Both Steve and Billy reply and Robin sticks her tongue out at Billy. “So where are the other knuckleheads?”

“They ditched me yesterday.”

“No!”

“My first day back. Can you believe that shit?”

“Woah, seriously?”

“I swear to God.” Dustin says through a full mouth of his ice cream. “They’re gonna regret it, though, big time, when they don’t get to share in my glory.”

“Glory? What glory?”

“So last night, we were trying to get in contact with Suzie.” 

“Oh. Mm. Mmhm?”

“Mmhm.”

Dustin covers his hand with his mouth and mumbles something.

“What?”

“Uh.” Dustin mumbles again.

“What?”

“Just speak louder.”

“I intercepted a secret Russian communication!” Dustin yells. The store all stops to look at them. The girls that Billy’s serving turn to stare at Steve and Dustin. 

“Kids.” Billy says, smiling charmingly. The girls nod and laugh, and the whole store goes back to normal.

“Jeez, okay yeah that’s what I thought you said.”

Billy comes over just then with a dish towel, twisting it and snapping it at Steve’s hair. 

“Hey, man, watch it!” Steve shoves Billy playfully.

Billy just grins and turns his attention to Dustin. “So, are we gonna get these commie bastards or what?”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -chapter title from ‘the trial’ by pink floyd. 
> 
> -next chapter will have some will byers and billy bonding, but will also feature some homophobic language so please read at your own discretion!


	7. i’ll be there til the end of time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> let billy hargrove be will byers’ mentor 2020
> 
> chapter title from ‘should i stay or should i go’ from the clash because I Had To

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -there is some homophobic language in this chapter! please read carefully :) tw for the f slur and q slur.
> 
> -also, yes, i did take some liberties with the timeline of events happening, but i’ve decided that with billy’s help instead of his antagonizing, the gang would figure out everything much, much sooner. so uh deal with it.

Billy Hargrove was getting better. He was still an asshole, sure, but now he’s an asshole with  _ good friends _ , and that seemed to make all the difference.

It took a while for the kids to warm up to him, but the fact that Max was able to trust him gave them a little bit more faith. Henderson seemed to trust him with just about anything and everything by now, what with all the Russian spy shit that went down a few days before 

Trading the security of a somewhat normal life for a life full of government conspiracies and sci-fi monsters? Right up Billy’s ally. 

It had been a little less than a month into the summer when Billy got the job at the pool. The brats seemed to always be bothering Harrington and Buckley, so Billy, the changed man he is, told Harrington to send them down to the pool sometime if they were getting to be too much. 

His mistake. 

Ever since Billy had first found out about all the upside-down shit, he’d been learning something new each day. One of the things he learned about was all the shit Will Byers had gone through, and the Sinclair kid had let on yesterday that Will still had flashbacks or  _ episodes _ , as his mom called them. Will Byers was a nice kid, pretty shy when Billy had seen him by himself, but a funny kid around the others, responding to Max’s snark with subtle retorts, and evening out Henderson’s spirit with a calmer energy. Billy liked him, he didn’t know much about him, but he liked him, but ever since they met, Billy saw something in him that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. 

So, now, the kids are at the pool for the day, and when Max comes up to Billy, looking slightly worried, but in a ‘ _ it's no big deal.’  _ kind of way, Billy got even more worried, because  _ everything’s  _ a big deal to Max, especially when she acts like it isn’t. Which is probably why Billy is running through every area inside the pool complex, ignoring all the signs posted on the walls, to find this kid. 

Billy walks into the changing room and hears noises. He rounds the corner and, sure as hell, there’s Will Byers, pressed against the wall, with Troy whatever-his-name-is hands bunched up in Byers’ shirt. Billy’s mind immediately goes to  _ oh god they’re fighting _ , because he’s heard of a lot of the shit that went down with that kid and Will. 

“Hey, what are you little assholes doing?” Billy shouts, ready to give this kid the worst time of his life, when the kids both look at him, shocked, and it hits him. 

The pièce de resistance. 

They weren’t fucking fighting. 

They were liplocked.

This is just Billy’s fucking luck.

When Troy does what can only be described as  _ tear _ his lips away from Will’s, Billy just stands there in the shock of  _ oh fuck that’s what that was.  _ Billy didn’t just put his finger on it, he put his whole hand down and slapped it silly. 

_ “Shit. Fuck, oh shit. _ ” Billy starts muttering. There isn’t exactly protocol to be briefed on in situations like this. 

“It’s not what it looks like, I swear, we were just-,” Troy starts, but Billy shuts him up. 

“Ok, can it, kid. I know what I saw, but I ain’t gonna  _ tell anyone _ unless you give me somethin’ actually bad to  _ tell ‘em about.  _ If you get me.” Billy turns his face into a snarl reflexively.

He’d been getting better at anger issues with Max basically being his backup ball of emotions, and Buckley trying to teach him how to  _ funnel his anger into healthier activities.  _ Whatever the hell that means. 

Billy is directing all his anger at this Troy kid when he sees Will right behind him, holding his face and staring off into the distance. He’s pale and looks scared as hell, and Billy doesn’t blame him. The look on Will’s face is enough to make Billy reign his temper in, at least for a second. 

“Listen, dickwads, I’m gonna come back in two minutes. You two are gonna do whatever you need to do to get yourself in order, and you’ll be ready to talk when I come back. Alright?” Billy states, rubbing his temples. Then he directs his attention towards Will.

“You got that Byers? You and I are gonna talk.” 

Will looks paler than usual as he nods, and Billy can see his younger self in these scared kids that just got fuckin’ outed by an almost complete stranger, and he feels the need to quell some of the worry. 

“I’m not your fuckin’ teacher or anything, but I just want you two to know you’re not fuckin’ in trouble, alright? Goddamnit. Two minutes.” 

With one last look between the two of them, Billy marches out of the changing room. 

  
  


———————

  
  


When Billy comes back two minutes later, after popping two sticks of gum into his mouth, trying desperately to resist the overwhelming urge to smoke on the job, he sees the two kids sitting on opposite sides of one of the benches, not looking at each other. 

Troy looks angry as all hell, and Will just looks resigned. 

Billy hates it.

“You, kid, scram.” He says, pointing at Troy. Troy looks at him and points up at himself. “Yeah douchebag, you. I don’t see anyone else behind you, do I?” Billy scowls.

Troy practically runs out the door but not before Billy grabs him by the back of the neck.

“You say anything about this, and I don’t know why the  _ hell  _ you’d want to, you’re fuckin’ dead, you hear me?” Billy speaks low and slow, careful to make his message very clear. “I’m not gonna tell anyone, but I also don’t just throw around charity to little assholes. Now.  _ Scram _ .” Billy says pushing him out the door, and he’s gone.

Billy rubs temple. “Ok Byers. You tell me what’s going on. I don’t like drawing conclusions, and I don’t like to wait, so start talking.”

Will stares blankly. Billy sighs.

“Kid, please, I don’t have all day and I wanna help you, so just tell me what the hell happened.”

Will stares at him blankly for another moment, and Billy is just about to tell him to leave it, when he opens his mouth. 

“I’ve never been kissed before.”

Billy waits. 

“I went to go get my sunscreen, because I forgot to put it on, and I came in and I was all alone, and then he came in and he looked at me and then he started walking towards me, and I thought he was going to punch me, but he didn’t.” Will’s voice breaks on the last word, and a tear streams down his face. “He kissed me, and I- I think I liked it.” Will looks up at Billy. “What the hell is wrong with me?” 

Billy suddenly feels the urge to hug him and punch every single asshole in the world that made him think something was wrong with him all at once. 

“Kid, nothing is wrong with you.” Billy looks him right in the eyes. “You like boys. So what?”

When Billy says that, Will looks like he’s been slapped. “I don’t! I don’t.”

“Byers, please, just listen-,” Billy starts, but Will’s yelling cuts him off. Billy has never heard Will yell before.

“I don’t! I’m not. I’m not a-,” Will drops his voice. “-faggot. I can’t be.” He stares at the wall directly behind Billy.

“You’re right kid, you’re not a faggot. You like boys. Faggot is what our asshole dads call us. Don’t say it.” Billy says sharply, looking at Will. He knows he caught onto Billy’s wording. 

“Our?” Will says quietly. 

Billy sighs again. He’s gonna need to smoke after this. “Yeah, kid. Our.” 

What Billy expects to happen next goes along the lines of Byers throwing some curses around, calling him some names, and then leaving only to never speak about it again, and make all of their little gatherings at Hopper’s cabin a bit more awkward than they already are. 

What he doesn’t expect is Will to throw his arms around Billy’s middle and start silently crying into his shoulder. All he can do is put his arms around the kid in what he hopes is a supportive way, and not in the awkward way that Billy feels. 

“I tried not to be.” Will whispers into his shoulder. “The first time they called me a fa- that name, I went home and asked Jonathan what it meant, and he seemed so angry when he told me. So I tried to stop it.” Will sniffs. “Didn’t work out so well.” 

Billy feels a laugh bubbling up in his throat, but for the sake of the kid, he pushes it back down and just nods. 

_ “I think I love him.”  _ Will says, and Billy would’ve missed it if it wasn’t his shoulder that Will was using as his personal tissue.

“Who? That Troy asshole? Kid, you could do so much better, don’t even get me started-,” Billy starts, bewildered, but then Will laughs tearily and gives him a look.

“Oh,  _ hell _ no. It’s just that. I don’t know what being in love is like, but when I see  _ him,  _ I think I might know what it’s kind of like. Then I see him with El, and god it sounds so dumb.” Will laughs. 

It clicks in Billy’s head.

“Byers, there will be so many boys. So, so many boys, when you get out of this hick town one day. You won’t remember who Wheeler or that little asshole even was _ ,  _ one day.” 

Will sits there looking at Billy with a small smile on his face, and Billy feels something well up in his chest, and he likes it  _ so, so much _ , but he needs it  _ gone  _ because it feels like his heart is gonna come out of his fuckin’ chest, and Billy can’t suffer through a heart attack right now.

“But, kid, you need to be careful. You gotta assume everyone in this whole fuckin’ town are bigoted assholes, at least until you’re grown. And as a bully myself, stay away from that Troy kid, he’s nothing but trouble. I know kids like him, hell, I was that kid, and he’s an asshole.” 

“Former bully.”

“What?” 

“You said ‘as a bully myself’, but you aren’t a bully anymore, right?” 

“Shit, Byers, out of everything I just said, you latch onto that?” Billy can’t help but suppress a grin when Will looks at him with raised eyebrows, like a challenge. “Ok, fine, whatever you want, kid. But the point is still there. No more of that dickbag. Pine after Wheeler all you want, but kids like that asshole are only gonna break your heart and then break your nose, okay?” 

Will nods, he hasn’t stopped smiling since he removed his head from Billy’s shoulder. “Yeah, okay.” 

“Good.” 

There’s a beat of silence. 

“So what about you?” 

“Huh?”

“Have you ever been in love?”

Billy takes a deep breath. “Maybe. I don’t think he’ll ever love me back, though.” 

“So who is it?”

Billy’s heart starts pounding a little harder in his chest. “Someone you don’t know.”

“What do you mean  _ someone you don’t know? _ I know this whole town, I’ve lived here my whole life.” 

“Well, he’s from out of town. Okay, kid?” 

Will is not taking his shit. “Where have you been going out of town to see this guy? Where does he live?”

“Jesus, kid! You ever run out of questions?” 

Will looks down.

“You said  _ he will _ , instead of  _ he would _ . And you used the word “know” instead of knew. I know you haven’t been going out of town, because Max tells us everything, and even if she didn’t, El would because of her ‘friends don’t lie’ policy. We all are really good at spotting lies. That’s how I know it’s someone here.” 

“Well, look at you. Byers the fuckin’ detective.” It comes out meaner than Billy wanted it to, but this conversation was drifting into dangerous territory. 

Will doesn’t look fazed by this, though. He just continues on. 

“Steve is a- he’s like us, right?” 

“Why the hell are we talking about Harrington right now? How the hell should I know?” Billy says, a little too bitterly. Will just nods, like that response was all he needed to know. 

“Thank you.” 

“For what, kid?”

“I don’t know.” Will says, but he sounds awful sure. Billy doesn’t comment. 

“Yeah, yeah, kid. Now get out there, your little nerd friends were worried about you.” Billy feels himself scrambling to find his composure again after all the questions, he feels like Byers could see right through him. 

“Yeah, okay.” Will gives him a smile, and Billy grins back. 

Will grabs his sunscreen and is almost out the door when Billy gently places his hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m not gonna threaten you or anything this time, but just know that if you say anything, it’s your ass.” Billy says. 

Will rolls his eyes, the nerve of that boy, but then he nods, and runs out into the sun.

What Billy just did hits him, full force, and he groans.  _ Why are all the queers in this town so damn nosy? _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. you’ve got a little life in you yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> billy takes max and el shopping :)

The smell of the grass being cut beneath his feet made Billy angry. It reminded him that there was nothing to do in this Twilight Zone of a fuckin’ town, every week went like this:

1) Wake up clutching at his sheets, mouth open in a silent scream as his brain concocts new ways to remind him what could’ve happened if Henderson didn’t get the  _ demogorgon _ to let them go. 

2) Get into the kitchen and try to not think about eating breakfast before going to do whatever the hell he could find to do. His father was there in the kitchen when he came in, sometimes. When he was in a good mood, he’d just nod tightly before heading to work. When he was in a bad mood, he’d spit and call Billy  _ disrespectful _ for not waking up before 9 am, and then tell him to  _ make himself useful _ around the house, grip his shoulder hard, before walking out. 

3) Go to work, whether that work was doing whatever shitty task Neil had for him that day, like fixing drawer pulls, or adjusting the hinges on the bathroom doors, or mowing the lawn. Recently, though, because of his job at the pool, Neil had even laid off on him a little bit as long as Billy would leave some of his paycheck in the living room to disappear the next morning. Billy could live without those few dollars. 

4) Then were other options to how to spend his actual free time, and Billy would like to pretend that he spent his time drinking and getting high as a fucking kite when Tommy would visit Carol, who lived on his street. They’d always invite him over and he’d take their weed and their beer and laugh at Tommy’s shitty jokes, get all the bullshit high school gossip from Carol. 

  
Eventually, he’d start scrolling through the channels on the TV in Tommy’s basement as the couple got crossfaded enough to not care about him being there when they stuck their hands down each other's clothes. 

One time, Billy swears Carol even winked at him as she stuck her hand down Tommy’s pants. He’s lucky he knows how to excuse himself with a gruff laugh, Tommy gives him a loose wave as he leaves out the back door. 

Other times, when their schedules allow it, he picks up Robin from  _ Scoops  _ with an annoyed sneer on his face as she climbs into the passenger seat of his car with a grin. She always changes the radio dial the moment she gets her seatbelt fastened. He grumbles at her when she does it, but makes no move to change it back. 

Steve is usually there heading out at the same time as Robin, and he gives them a small wave and a smile that makes Billy’s heart flutter a bit. The butterflies usually go down when he hears him yell “Be safe, you two.” and adds a little wink at Billy for good measure, and Robin flips him off. 

“When do you think he’ll figure it out?” Robin asks as she climbs into the car. 

“Never, if I have anything to say about it.” 

“Do you really think he’d be mad about it?”

“Don’t know if I want to find out.” 

Robin nods and makes a mental note to ask if Steve can come with them sometime. Billy will say no of course, but just putting the thought there should do the trick.

They head out to the lake and sit there for an hour or two, smoking cigarettes and bemoaning their crushes. 

_ (“She looked at my boobs, Billy. Straight girls don’t do that, right?” Robin is whining to Billy one day. “It was in like a totally gay way, I swear.”  _

_ “Tammy ain’t a fuckin’ dyke, Rob. Carol told me she hooked up with Matt last week and apparently she squeals like a fuckin’ pig. You really wanna screw a pig, Buckley?”  _

_ “Number one, fuck you. And number two, bisexuality _ is _ a thing asshole.” Billy snorts at that.  _

_ “Yeah, sure whatever. All I’m saying, dipshit, is that if Tammy Thompson liked dick any more, she’d be me.”  _

_ Robin looks at him for a second before bursting out in laughter. Billy has to roll his eyes to suppress his proud smile at making her laugh. She keels over, tears running down her face and body shaking in laughter, and doesn’t stop laughing until Billy shoves her a little into the water, and she trips on her ass, becoming submerged in the lake. Then, Billy lets his grin come out in full force.  _

_ “I swear, if I get eaten by a crocodile or some shit, you better give me an awesome eulogy.” Robin bitches as she pulls herself back up.  _

_ “Yeah, yeah, Buckley.” Billy sits there in the summer sun with smoke curling from his mouth, still feeling his and Robin’s laughter in his bones. He doesn't tell her that it’s the warmest he’s felt since Cali, but he doesn’t have to.) _

Billy thinks hard while he mows, which is probably why he doesn’t hear the sound of a screaming girl running towards him, tackling and almost sending him to the ground in surprise, but he catches himself and she falls smoothly off his back. 

“Take us to the mall.” Max demands once Billy turns off the mower and looks stupidly at her, giving her a “ _ what the hell do you want”  _ look. 

“‘m not your chauffeur, shitbird.” Max pouts. “Get Steve to take you and your lil’ boyfriend.” Billy wipes his sweaty forehead with the rag hanging from his waist. 

“ _ Billy.”  _ Max whines, jerking her head towards their back porch. “ _ El is sad.”  _ She stage-whispers.

Billy takes a deep breath when he sees the girl standing by their back foot, taking in her surroundings. She looks up when she sees him looking, and there’s this look in her eyes that makes him soften a bit.

He sighs and starts putting the mower away. Max just stands there, looking at him with her hands on her hips. 

“Are you taking us to the mall?” 

Billy groans. “I’ll do whatever the hell you want, just give me twenty minutes, Jesus.” 

Max grins and nods excitedly at El, and seeing her face light up makes it almost worth it.

“Hey.  _ Hey! Don’t get used to it!”  _ Billy yells, but Max has already grabbed El’s hand and dragged her inside.

After taking a shower and fixing his hair, Billy adds one spray of his nice cologne and sniffs the air. “ _ What the hell are you even getting all fancy for?”  _ He thinks to himself, trying to ignore Robin’s nagging voice in his head. He knocks at Max’s door, and she comes bounding out, El in tow. 

“That was  _ way _ more than twenty minutes.” Max whines. 

“Shut up and get in the car.” 

She rolls her eyes and giggles at El, and the other girl also lets out a small laugh. Billy grabs his keys from the table and follows them out. 

The girls are already in the backseat of the Camaro when he comes outside. “So where do you assholes wanna go?” Billy asks as he starts the car.

“I am not.” El says quietly but resolutely, and Billy almost misses it.

“Huh?”

“I am not an...asshole.” El repeats, scrunching her nose on the last word. 

Billy fights back a laugh before nodding. “You’re right,  _ you  _ aren’t,” He says with a look at Max. “Sorry, kid.” Max glares at him.

El nods her forgiveness before Max starts yelling again. 

“The mall. We’re gonna get El some clothes and shit, and show Mike what he’s missing, and then we’re gonna get ice cream, and I guess you can go off and flirt with your girlfriend, and we can go by ourselves as long as you give me money to pay for a shirt, and I won’t even tell Neil.” 

“Like hell that's happening.” Billy snorts as he turns the radio to some pop station with a staticky background. “I ain’t letting’ Hop’s kid get lost in the mall with you.” 

“We won’t get lost,” Max sniffs. “I go there with the boys all the time and we only got lost the first time.” El looks sad at that statement. Billy wonders if she had ever even been to a mall before. Probably not, with how careful Hopper is about bringing her places.

He gives Max a look. “Yeah, no. You two are gonna need someone to tote around all your shit, right?” 

Max begrudgingly agrees and Billy turns his attention on El. “So how’d you like that album I got you, kid?” 

A small smile returns to El’s face. “I liked it. Her voice is pretty.” Billy nods. 

“I’m glad, not really my scene, but you need to figure out what shit you like, and Max likes pop shit, so I thought you might, too.”

Billy doesn’t mention the twin tape in his glovebox. He also doesn’t mention the fact that it wasn’t Max that showed him the album, and she doesn’t say anything, starts talking about some new movie she and Lucas went and saw.

_ (Billy had picked up Robin one afternoon, and they had pulled up alongside Steve’s Beemer and he had been playing some insufferable pop shit from the speakers in his car.  _

_ “What the hell is this, Harrington? Madonna?” Billy had yelled over the music with a grin.  _

_ “You’re kidding. Kate Bush, the one and only! Her new album came out last week.” Steve had yelled back happily and scoffed when he saw Billy’s raised eyebrow. “It’s good shit, Hargrove.” _

_ “Whatever, bubblegum.” Billy felt like he was going to pass out if Steve kept smiling at him like that, all dopey and wide.  _

_ “Have a good day, you two!” Steve’s goofy smile hung there on his face like the sun in the sky. Billy could feel his mouth getting dryer, and his face getting redder.  _

_ “You too, Pretty Boy.” Billy stared at him with his lips still upturned as he pulled out of the parking lot, almost forgetting Robin was there in the car with him. He couldn’t keep ignoring her, though, when he could feel Robin’s shit-eating grin.  _

_ “Shut up.” _

_ “I didn’t say anything.”)  _

As they pull into the mall’s busy parking lot, Billy starts talking.

“You guys’ll stay in my line of sight, got that? You do any stupid shit, carrot top, and I’ll drag your ass back home.” Billy warns, not even bothering to threaten El. “And, you two?”

The girls look at him expectantly. His face breaks out into a smile. 

“Have fun.” He finishes. Max groans. 

“Ok, dad.” But there’s a fondness behind her rolling eyes. Billy can’t even bring himself to bitch at her about it. 

The first half of the visit consists of Billy following behind the girls at a safe distance as they giggle and run from store to store. El tries on outfits and Billy even joins Max in giving her thumbs-ups or thumbs-downs for each outfit. Some are so ridiculous that Billy has to let out a snort of laughter and Max elbows him in the side, despite the fact that El is laughing too. 

Billy offers to pay for their clothes and Max looks at him like he’s gone insane. He just shrugs and grabs their choices. 

“You’re a real good big brother.” The girl behind the counter says with a smile when he swipes his card, pointing to girls standing by the exit of the store when he quirks an eyebrow. 

Billy’s mouth immediately shoots open to say “She’s not my sister,” or something along those lines, when he looks at Max and she’s laughing and talking animatedly to El. She’s smiling a bright smile at him when she notices him looking and Max sends him a thumbs down with a dumb look on her face.

It makes Billy feel an aching warmth in his bones, and he wants to blame it on the summer heat despite the brutal air conditioning in the mall. 

So, he just says “Thanks.” softer than he meant it to come out, and finishes paying. 

“Took you long enough.” Max grumbles when he walks up to them. 

“Shut up, nerd.” He says, ruffling her hair. El laughs at that and he grabs her and ruffles her shorter hair, too. If it’s possible, he thinks he sees her smile get even bigger. 

“Ice cream, anyone?” Billy asks them, and Max scoffs. 

“You just wanna see your girlfriend!” She teases, but she’s already pulling him and El by the arm inside the shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- the song that steve was listening to is “hounds of love” from kate bush’s album of the same name, and it is WONDERFUL so you should probably go check that song out right now if you don’t know it yet. 
> 
> -chapter title is also from a kate bush song (this woman’s work). i found some old cassette tapes and was listening to them, and i found her hounds of love album and i was like “it came out in ‘85! shit!” and i knew i had to write it in. steve loves kate bush so uh don’t touch me.
> 
> -also, if i made a playlist on spotify for this fic, would anyone listen to it?


	9. hot shot, give me no problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -a short chapter, but i wanted to post something! 
> 
> -chapter title from kids in america by kim wilde

As soon as Billy trudges into _Scoops_ , Max leading him and El by the arm, Robin goes absolutely apeshit. 

Snapping her head up when she sees him, eyes going wide. Pressing the bell a few times, until they can hear Steve yell “ _Jesus, Rob, I’m coming!”_ from the back

She doesn’t even wait for him to get up in the front before she yanks Billy from Max’s gripand pulls him to the side.

“Where the fuck were you?”

“The hell you mean, Buckley?”

Robin huffs. “We saw you _two days_ ago and in those two days, I have just about singlehandedly it managed to crack the code of a lifetime. I’m basically America’s fucking savior, Billy. And guess what? Those two dipshits eating ice cream in the back are probably going to get all the credit if you don’t _fucking help me.”_

Billy rolls his eyes. 

“Why should I care? I’m with Max and her friend right now, babysitting basically a full-time job. I’m fuckin’ _busy.”_

“If Steve can do it, you can do it.” Robin says, and Billy starts to protest but she cuts him off. 

“But you care because number one: you love me. Number two: _it’s a fucking Russian conspiracy,_ Billy. In _Hawkins._ You’re always complaining that nothing ever happens here, but the one time that something does, you don’t want anything to do with it.”

The statement causes Billy to snort. _The things he’s seen._

“I thought it was a joke, Rob. And maybe when I say _something interesting_ , I mean, like, you getting a special someone, not a fucking _national conspiracy.”_

“Well, it’s not a joke, and we need your help, so get your head out of your ass and help us.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Words of affirmation from your bestest friend in the whole world?” Robin gives him puppy dog eyes, pouting her lip out. Billy nods and gestures to continue. 

“...and you get to spend more time with Steve?”

Billy grumbles. “I already see enough of Harrington’s sorry ass.”

“Of course you’re talking about his ass.”

Billy swats at her with a scowl. She finally relents. 

“...and I’ll give your sister and her friend ice cream!”

“ _Stepsister.”_ Billy mumbles, but it’s weak. “Fine, you’ve got yourself a deal, shitbird.”

Billy knows damn well that Steve would’ve given them free ice cream anyways if they’d asked, would’ve complained about it like a little bitch while he was getting it, probably. But Billy’s allowed to enjoy this. Make Robin think she was working for it. 

The girls are handing out the money to Steve behind the counter when Billy comes up to them. 

_“Are you even allowed to be here?”_ He’s asking El, and the girls giggle and look at each other when Robin pushes him out of the way. She shoves Max’s cash back at her. 

“It’s your lucky day, kids. Don’t get used to it.” 

If Robin wasn’t a lesbian and Billy didn’t have an insatiable thirst for doe-eyed boys in sailor patterned shorts, he’d probably kiss her.

But since he does, Billy just tugs the girls to the side. “Okay, you two shitbird should be getting home soon or your dads will kill me.” 

He motions to the money in Max’s hand and gives her a few extra bills from his pocket. She looks at him questioning look.

“Bus money. Don’t use it for anything else or you ain’t gettin’ home. If Neil asks, I’m with some of the lifeguards from the pool. I’ll be home a bit late tonight, I think.”

“Neil hasn’t been home for, like, two days.” Max whines. 

“He’s probably off getting drunk somewhere, I don’t fucking know. Just, if he’s home and he asks, tell him I’m out and then steer clear.”

El looks suddenly very uncomfortable at the mention of Neil, and Billy can see her shiver and her face scrunch up. She abruptly reaches up and touches Billy’s face. 

“I am sorry. He is a bad Papa.” 

Billy feels something jolt through him, but he brushes it off. He’s heard most everything about El, and he’s pretty sure she’s been worse off in the whole _father_ department than he has. 

“It’s fine, kid, really. But do me a favor, will you?” Billy says seriously. El nods at him intensely.

“That Wheeler kid? You see him, you give him hell.” Billy grins wickedly, and El grins back tentatively. 

He steps back and ruffles both of their hair. Max grumbles, but cracks a small smile when he pulls her and El into a quick hug.

“Now get your asses outta here!” 

“ _Billy,_ you messed up my hair.” Max whines. 

“Was already messed up, carrot top. Now scram, assholes.”

They give him one last small smile and then race out, but not before Max yells “Have fun with your girlfriend! Be safe!” 

Billy groans loudly. Robin just smiles amusedly. “Who’s the lucky girl?”

“ _Shut the hell up.”_

When he finally sees them disappear from his line of sight, Billy pushes past a still laughing Robin and barges into the room marked _Employees Only_ like he owns the place. 

He eyes Steve and Dustin, and the whiteboard filled with Russian characters sitting in the opposite corner of the room. Steve tries to hide the X-Men comic that he was very obviously reading by shoving it at Dustin. That shouldn’t be so fucking endearing.

It really is. 

Billy sighs. “Alright, assholes. Lets go get some Russians or whatever.”

  
  


—————-

  
  


“Did I need to explain it one more time?” Dustin asks calmly and Billy slams his hand down on the table. 

“For the last time, Henderson, _no._ We’re just gonna be _sitting here_ until the delivery guys get here, _if they even show up._ If this isn’t some dumb elaborate prank.”

“You know it’s not a prank, Billy!” Henderson yells.

“ _Whatever.”_ Billy huffs. “We get it, we sit here and then when this place closes, we wait and watch for _whoever the fuck is coming_.”

“If you put it like _that,_ it doesn’t sound like any fun, asshole.” Dustin mumbles. “But yeah. It’s a stakeout.” He sounds almost giddy at the last word.

“Second stakeout today.” Robin mumbles. 

“Yeah, well, that’s because Steve sucked on the first one!”

Billy grins. “Yeah? What happened, his hair stuck up too high and the Russians saw ya?”

“ _No,_ and it’s really Dustins’s fault! We followed some stupid jazzercise instructor.”

”Yeah, _I’m_ the one that actually did something useful today.”

”Whatever.” Steve and Dustin huff.

“Yeah, yeah, Buckley. You want a medal? Now stop talkin’, I’m trying to get my beauty rest since I’ll be up with you fuckers all night.”

Billy’s just settling back when the office phone starts ringing.

“What the hell? It’s literally almost closing time, no one should be fucking calling.” Steve grumbles as he makes his way to the phone. 

“ _Ahoy! How can I-,”_ Steve starts before he’s cut off. His face quickly turns into a panicked expression and Billy is on high alert. 

“Yeah. Yeah. _Fuck._ Just- uh, _get the fuck over here._ No, I don’t give a shit. Yes, he’s still here. Ok, now get your asses over here. Yes, bye.” 

Steve is getting paler and paler by the second, everyone in the room is on edge now.

Steve turns to everyone. “Max and El are on their way.” He directs his attention to Billy. “Something about your dad.”

Billy feels his blood run cold.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes i am taking SO many liberties with the timeline of the season shut up


	10. the church bells all were broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> billy is a Good Big Brother and he just rlly wants to kiss steve but he understands timing

Billy’s pacing when the girls get there, his fingernails stabbing into the skin of his arms. 

_ “What happened? Are they okay? Did he hit Max? I should never have left them. This is because of me.”  _ Frantic thoughts race through Billy’s head and when he sees the girls, he lets out a strangled noise from the back of his throat. 

El’s nose is bleeding and they’re both soaking wet. Max looks like she’s in shock, but she still starts trying to rattle words off at an incredible speed. 

“What the hell happened? Are you hurt? Are you okay? Did he hit you? _I swear if he hit you_ _I’m gonna-_ ,” He trails off with an angry cry as he shakes Max’s shoulders and frantically checks for bruises. 

He knows that’s not Neil’s usual style, but it couldn’t hurt to check. It never did. His mind races as he grabs her arms and she squirms. 

  
  


He hears an actual conversation going on, words are coming out of Max’s mouth,  _ but he can’t hear them,  _ his brain is foggy, struggling to comprehend exactly what Robin is saying behind him.

Steve is worriedly checking for any problems with El besides the obvious. Her nose is still bleeding, hard, and Steve hands her tissues to quell the flow, whilst simultaneously checking for any other marks. She has an odd look on her face, sad and angry, yet determined. 

“Start from the beginning, alright?” Robin is saying calmly, taking a bunch of children bursting into the shop when they should be at their homes much better than anyone else would. 

Max nods, her tangled, wet hair getting caught in Billy’s fingers as he all but pets her, trying to calm both him and Max’s bumping hearts. He knows he’s pulled her hair when she tries to swat him away, and he just swats her back and keeps brushing through her hair. Max starts, scowling at Billy, but still leaning into the touches. 

“When we left here, we ran into Mike and Lucas and Will, and I yelled at him for being a  _ fucking asshole,  _ and then I yelled at Lucas for supporting him, I mean, what the hell is wrong with them? If he doesn’t apologize, I’m gonna-,” 

Robin snaps at her. “Get to it, dingus.” 

Max glares at her, but starts again. “Anyways, on the bus home, El started bleeding and freaking out because she thought she  _ saw something _ , so I invited her in because I didn’t see Neil’s car, and usually my mom is fine with people over as long as he’s not there. So I let her into the house to clean her nose up and stuff. But when we got there, Neil was there with mom, and they were eating dinner, but he didn’t really say anything about El, he just looked at her really weird. When I asked them where they went, he wouldn’t answer my question and just said he’d be out of town and that I shouldn’t worry about it.”

She takes a deep breath. Billy wonders when that kids lungs are gonna give out. “ _ She should’ve been a band kid.”  _ He thinks, still absentmindedly stroking her hair. When he sees Steve looking at him weird, he withdraws his hand quickly. Steve gives him a weird smile that makes Billy’s heart flutter a bit for some reason. Max continues.

“So, basically, he invited El in for dinner which was  _ weird _ and he was being really nice to me, like he’s not the worst usually, but he was being  _ weird _ . Dinner was weird, but mom seemed pretty happy and I didn’t want to ruin it, so I didn’t say anything and El stayed and it was fine and all. Then, like, halfway through dinner, mom spilled wine all over her dress and so she said she was going to go change, and he said he’d help her which I thought was just  _ really gross-,” _

“Get on with it!” Dustin yells. Steve slugs him in the arm. Billy wants to kiss him on his stupid pink lips.

Max glares at Dustin. “We heard this giant crash and I got scared and walked in there, and mom was on the floor and Neil was  _ standing there _ with one of your weights.” She looked back at Billy and he felt sick to his stomach. “And I think he was gonna  _ fucking kill us  _ or something, but El used her powers which are  _ totally awesome,  _ by the way to, like, move the bookshelf and trap him and we grabbed your old bike and skateboard and started going. 

“Jesus Christ.” Steve mutters, rubbing his fingers through his hair as Dustin goes “Holy shit, do you think it’s-,” 

El nods and Dustin and Steve look scared. Robin looks so confused, Billy almost feels sorry for her. He’ll buy her chocolates or something if they make it to next week. 

“Anyways, we went to Hopper’s house, but he wasn’t there even though El said that he was supposed to be off at 5, and it was already 7 by the time we were there.”

El nods gravely.  _ “He said he didn’t lie anymore.” _

“So we called you from El’s place and then we came here.”

“It’s fucking pouring out there!” Billy exclaims, angry and not sure exactly where to direct it. 

“That’s why we’re fucking wet, asshole!” Max yells back. There are tears in her eyes and Billy wants to yell but Dustin stops them. 

“Not to interrupt, guys, but it’s almost 9. Remember, the  _ stakeout.  _ Like  _ the reason why we’re here.” _

Billy turns to him, practically foaming at the mouth. “My  _ sister  _ could’ve fucking  _ died,  _ Henderson. I don’t give a  _ shit _ about your goddamn conspiracy theory  _ bullshit  _ right now.” 

He sees Steve flinch out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t care, he  _ can’t care,  _ his vision clouding over and he feels a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey, breathe.” Billy closes his eyes as Steve rubs soothing circles into his back. He takes a deep breath, hissing through his teeth, breath shuddering. He finally opens his eyes after a few seconds. 

“I’m staying here with them.” He says finally, gesturing to Max and El. “They’ve had enough for one night.”

He looks over and sees tears rubbing down Max’s face, and El mimicking the motion that Steve did to him. He pulls them both into his space and places a protective hand around Max’s shoulder, El’s hand not leaving hers. Dustin looks like he’s about to say something, but Robin, sensing it, yanks his ear before he says anything. 

“Do you guys need anything?” Steve asks. “I mean, it can’t possibly be safe to go back to your house, you could go to mine, my parents are never home, and-,”

Billy looks at Max crying in his arms, and then at El holding her hand tight, like if she let it go, Max would fall down. “Thanks, Pretty Boy, but I’m taking them to Hopper’s tonight.”

Max starts to protest. 

“Billy, what about my mom? I think Neil might’ve-“ She breaks off with a choked noise, and he grabs her gently by the shoulders.

“Susan will just have to wait. I don’t know what the  _ fuck _ is going on, but we need to keep you safe, Max.” 

“But she’s my mom!” She yells in his face, tears and wet hair flying everywhere. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Billy tastes a bitterness from his throat. He releases Max from his grip with a grind of his teeth.

_ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9… _

He closes his eyes as he counts. When he opens them, Max is still standing there teary-eyed. Steve and Dustin are looking at him curiously, and Robin looks a little bit proud. No one moves as he takes a deep breath. 

“You’re right. I don’t understand, Max. But you’re my  _ fuckin’ sister,  _ and you must be fuckin’ crazy if you think I’m not gonna try to keep you safe, you hear me?” He says gruffly. 

Max sniffs up at him as more tears run down her face, but her eyes aren’t scrunched anymore, her face pulled into a determined expression as she nods. 

“Glad we’re fuckin’ clear then,” Billy directs his attention towards El, who’s just standing there observing, her hand not leaving Max’s the whole conversation. “Is it safe at your house? If not, we’re going to Harrington’s.” 

El nods. “Yes. I think so.” 

“Is there any way you can check?” 

She nods again. “Steve, can I have your hat?”

He looks confused, but hands it over. 

“ _ He has really bad hat hair. It’s cute.”  _ Billy notes, and immediately scolds himself for it. “ _ Not the fucking time.” _

It seems like Robin senses his thoughts because she looks over at him at that exact moment and he scowls at her. 

“Robin, give me Dustin’s walkie-talkie.” El says, her face set in a straight line. 

“Ok, kid, how do you know my name? I didn’t even introduce myself, have we even met bef-,” El cuts her off with a look, and she goes silent and hands her the device she was holding. Billy’s never seen Robin go silent like that before. 

“Taste of your own medicine, Buckley. You see, it’s a bit  _ fuckin’ weird  _ to know other people’s names if they haven’t even introduced-” Billy starts, a grin making the way to his face. 

“ _ Billy.” _ El says sharply.

“Yeah, sorry.” He shuts up. 

She slips the hat over her eyes and Billy watches in awe as the radio starts crackling and everyone is silent, watching.

Robin breaks the silence. “So is anyone gonna tell me what’s going on here?” 

_ “Shut up.”  _ Billy and Dustin say at the same time. Dustin has a dumb look on his face like he wants to say something else along the lines of ‘ _ you owe me coke’  _ but Billy glares at him.

Robin raises her hands defensively. El continues. When her nose starts bleeding, Billy and Robin watch in horror, but stay silent. 

“I see someone.” El says quietly. Max reaches down to sit by her on the floor.

“Who is it?” 

“I don’t...It’s your papa. He’s doing something.”

“What’s happening, El?” Billy breathes, his heart thumping hard in his chest. 

El rips off the hat from her eyes. They’re clouded over with tears as she looks at Max. “Your mama. I’m sorry.”

Max’s face drops. Her mouth hangs open in a silent cry and she slumps forwards on the floor, muttering.

Billy can hear his heart pounding.  _ What did that bastard do? _

He crouches down to cradle Max, not sure exactly where to put his hands, but he ends up stroking her hair again as she cries. 

Steve, Robin, and Dustin just stand there watching until Dustin taps them and El on their shoulders, and they all walk out of the small room. Billy can hear them talking in the hallway. They come back as Max has stopped, too drained to cry anymore. She sits there, shaking slightly and clutching onto Billy’s arm.

Dustin is the first one to talk. “Billy, can we talk to you?” 

Billy nods, gesturing at El to replace him in comforting Max, and they all exit the room.

When they get into the hallway, Robin starts. “I don’t know what’s happening, I admit it. I don’t even know if I want to know. I do know, though, that you need to get them somewhere that’s not the fucking mall at nine o’clock at night.”

“It’s not even really nine.” Steve mumbles.

“ _ Shut it, Harrington.”  _ Robin snaps, before turning back to Billy. “You need to be with Max. We need to figure out the Russian shit. We talked to El and you guys can all go back to her dad’s house, she said it’s  _ safe _ , whatever that means right now. We’re going to go scope out the loading docks and figure out what’s happening there, and tomorrow, when everyone is  _ well-rested _ , we are all going to have a little chat about exactly what the  _ hell _ is going on here, and why I don’t know about it. Capiche?”

Billy nods. He feels lightheaded. “Thank you, Robin.”

He sees her face soften slightly. “If you need anything, radio us.”

“Got it.” He turns to head back into the room, but feels a hand on his shoulder. It’s Steve.

“You alright?” He asks.

Billy can’t help but laugh. “Ask me when this is all over, and maybe I’ll have an answer.”

He walks into the room, and El and Max have gotten into a standing position, Max still slightly shaky, but obviously doing better. 

“Come on. I hate driving in the rain.” He says to the girls. He grabs his keys and the walkie talkie off the table, and manages to catch Steve’s eye. 

“Be safe, alright?” 

Billy smiles weakly. “I’ll do my best, pretty boy.” He says before taking Max’s hand that isn’t holding El’s in his.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -chapter title from ‘american pie’ by don mclean because i LOVE the sequence with billy and heather from the show
> 
> -i tried to keep it KIND OF close to canon but I Didn’t Want To so haha fuck you neil
> 
> -i’m literally so close to this being done lmao this has been so fun to write and i have a few more chapters left, but i should be posting daily so! stay tuned 
> 
> -do i ship el and max? maybe. will i put it in this fic? probably not but if i do a series mayhaps. i just love them all so so much


	11. saturday nights alright (for fighting)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> billy, max, and el meet up with the boys

The ride to Hoppers is quiet. _The Violent Femmes_ plays in the background and Billy can’t even bring himself to hum along, too busy thinking about the events of the night. 

As they pull up, Billy turns down the radio and turns to El. “Are you sure your dad will let us crash here?” 

“Yes.” 

_“Good enough for me.”_ He thinks to himself, shrugging.

“I’ll take the couch. Can Max sleep with you?” He says. Max doesn’t even perk up at her own name as she looks out the window. The look on her face makes him want to hurt Neil worse than he ever did to him. 

“Yes.” El says. She opens her door, and moves around to the other side to open Max’s door for her. El grabs her hand and drags her out towards the house, Max’s eyes still downcast. 

  
  
  
  


Billy makes up the couch out of some of the throw blankets lying around Hopper’s living room, and crawls into the makeshift bed. _Time to get some sleep so that he can be well-rested for the hell that awaits him in the morning._ Billy almost laughs at the thought, and he’s drifting off when he feels a presence standing over him. He opens his eyes. 

Red hair standing over him. She shifts nervously on her feet. Billy’s only seen Max nervous maybe once before, and it was the night that he was brought into all this mess. 

“Come on.” Billy says, lifting up the blanket. Max crawls under without a word. 

It takes a moment for her to get comfortable on the small couch, barely big enough for Billy alone, but she manages, curling up against Billy’s side like he’s tethering her to this world. 

“ _Billy._ ” She whispers. 

“ _Yeah?”_

_“I’m scared.”_ She says, even more quietly than before. He feels the emotion radiating off of her, like the scared stray cat that he and Robin found out by the quarry one evening in May. 

  
  


(It was a small kitten with brown fur and big eyes, hissing and puffing up at the sight of them. They had found the little guy crouched under Billy’s Camaro during a smoke break after Billy had picked up Robin from her new job at _Scoops._

Robin insisted on naming him Anthony. 

Billy had scoffed at her, saying that “Anthony is way too refined for this _a_ sshole, Buckley. Just look at him. He’s a fucking alley cat.”Robin glared at him. 

_“_ He’s just scared. Big world like this could eat him up and he’s just trying his best _.”_ Billy had rolled his eyes, but relented. 

“Whatever, shitbird _.”_ So Anthony the cat stayed with Robin, and Billy hadn’t seen him since. 

He should’ve shown him to Max. She would’ve loved him.)

  
  


Billy places his hand on Max's head and strokes her hair some more. ”I know, kid.”

“ _Do you think she-,”_ Max cuts off, unable to finish the question, but Billy knows exactly what she’s asking. 

“I don’t know. Wish I did, but I don’t, and there’s no way for us to know right now without putting anyone in danger, okay?” Billy takes a breath.

_“_ Get some sleep tonight and we’ll figure it out in the morning.”

She nods. Silence. 

_“Thank you.”_ He thinks he hears her whisper, but it’s probably a trick of his imagination. He’s out like a light. 

——————

Billy wakes up with red hair in his mouth, and a hand clutching his. 

When he opens his eyes, both of the girls are still knocked out, Max sleeping where he remembers she crawled into his bed last night, and El is laying against the couch on the floor. She must’ve grabbed his hand and one of his blankets, because her hand and his are twined together, and his legs are freezing. He pauses for a moment to enjoy the warmth that’s coming from his chest at the sight anyways. 

Then, in typical Billy fashion, he breaks it.

“Wake up, assholes.” He yells, pushing Max off the couch. 

She falls with a _thud_ on Hopper’s floor, right on top of El, whose eyes fly open.

As Max flails for a grip, El starts giggling awake, which causes Max to start giggling. Even Billy has to bite back a grin.

“Come on, breakfast time. Everybody up!” He steps into the floor and slips, causing him to fall into the pile the girls have created. Max and El laugh harder and Billy laughs with them. It feels good. 

When they’ve all caught their breath, El jumps up from the pile. “Waffles!” 

Max jumps up with an “Ooh!” and joins El getting waffles from the freezer. 

“Don’t burn yourself!” Billy shouts into the kitchen.

“We’re not ten!” Max shouts back.

“Sure looks like it.”

“Hey!” 

He snorts before turning back to the mess of a couch awaiting his cleanup.

Once Billy’s done tidying up Hopper’s couch, he makes his way into the kitchen and looks through the drawers. 

“Your dad got any fruit? Apples?” He asks El.

El shakes her head and heads to the fridge to grab whipped cream and maraschino cherries.

“Woah, woah! That’s a fuckton of sugar, would Hop let you even have that?” 

She just smiles a small smile that kind of scares Billy, and he lets it go with a roll of his eyes. 

“Whatever, but don’t come crawlin’ to me when you get heart disease.” 

The girls laugh at that and he sees Max roll her eyes. He’s trying to find something comparable to a healthy breakfast, when he hears staticky voices from El’s room over the girls quietly talking. 

_“...red. I repeat, we have a code red, over.”_ He thinks he can hear Lucas Sinclair on El’s walkie-talkie. 

“Guys! You might wanna hear this!” Billy yells for Max and El, and they come running into the room.

“What happened?” Max asks over the channel.

“Max! Thank god.” Lucas sounds breathless with relief

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“Mike called your house and your stepdad answered and he got really mad and I got scared something happened to you.”

“ _Shit.”_ Billy and Max say in unison. “Don’t call my house anymore, Lucas. I’m with El. Something happened with Neil and my mom and Billy and I are staying out here.” 

“What happened?” 

“I’ll explain later _._ ”

Mike interrupts. “Guys, something happened. Something bad. Our very lives could be at stake.”

Billy pushes the button. “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.”

Mike is still talking. “Just come over to my house. We’ll explain everything.”

“Oh god.” Max groans. 

“ _Hurry.”_ The line cuts off

They all stare at each other. 

“Well. I guess the waffles will have to be to-go then.” Billy says, grabbing his keys off of the table. “Go change and meet me outside in the car. You have two minutes.”

The girls change quickly and Billy is listening to Elton John’s voice filter through the speakers. 

_“...may use a little muscle to get what I need_

_I may sink a little drink and shout out…”_

Max and El hop into the car, waffles in their hands. 

“You get _anything_ on my baby’s seats, you two are paying for it, you hear me?” 

Max and El nod frantically, mouths full of whipped cream. He tosses napkins from his console back at them, and starts driving. 

“The Wheeler’s house?” He asks. They both hum in affirmation. Billy grins. “I know the Wheelers.”

_“Gross, Billy!”_ Max gags in the backseat. Billy just roars out a laugh and presses the gas. _He may be a queer, but the Hawkins’ housewife group sure doesn’t know that._

When they reach the house, Mike is waiting for them at the door and ushers them all into the house. El beelines for the basement and is gone in a moment. Billy and Max aren’t that quick. 

“Mike, what’re you- Oh!” Mrs. Wheeler startles when she sees Billy. He tries for a bashful smile.

“Morning, Mrs. Wheeler. I was just dropping off Max for the kids’ Dragons and Dungeons game. Thought I might stick around and see how it worked.” He gives his most charming grin and he can see her head spinning. 

_“_ It’s _Dungeons and Dragons,_ Billy.” Max hisses.

“That’s what I said.” 

Mrs. Wheeler honest-to-god _giggles_ and Max looks disgusted. 

“Can I get you anything? Water or a soda, maybe?” She tucks her hair behind her ear. 

_“Wow, her sex life must be literally nonexistent.”_ Billy thinks, but he continues. “No, thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. I think your son is on a pretty strict time schedule, so I think it’s in our best interest to get down there.” He gives her a wink for good measure and she giggles again.

“Oh, call me Karen, sweetheart, I’ve told you before.” 

“Alright, _Karen.”_ He says, drawing it out. 

“ _Mom_ ,we need them downstairs. _Now.”_ Mike glowers from the doorway to the basement. 

Mrs. Wheeler clucks her tongue. “Alright, but don’t wear yourself out!” She adds with another glance at Billy. “You need anything, just call me.”

“ _Mom.”_

“I’m going, I’m going!” She scurries out of the room, and Mike pulls Billy and Max behind him. Max is still gagging, and Mike gives him a disgusted look.

_“_ That’s _so fucking gross,_ Billy!” 

“You’re just jealous.”

“What the _hell_ would I be jealous of?” Max and Billy argue all the way down the stairs, where the rest of the kids are sitting in a circle, and Will is already talking. 

Everyone is listening intently.

“I didn’t think it was anything at first. I mean, I think I just didn’t want to believe it. The first time I felt it was at _Day of the Dead._ ” 

“Power went out that night, too.” Mike supplies.

“And then I felt it again. At the field near the Nelson farm that day. Then, again, yesterday outside Castle Byers.” Will’s voice cracks.

“What does it feel like?” Max asks, already in tune to the conversation. Billy only has a vague idea of what’s happening, but he stays silent. 

“It’s almost like...you know when you drop off a rollercoaster?”

“Sure.”

“Yeah.”

“No.” El answers. Everyone ignores it, but Billy looks at her like she’s insane. Max slugs him in the arm. 

Will continues. “It’s like...everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but this is worse. Your body goes cold and you can’t breathe. I felt it before, when he was close.”

Max and El look at each other. “When who was close?” Max asks.

“The Mind Flayer.” 

“I closed the gate.” El protests weakly. 

“I know, but...what if he never left?” Will looks scared now, his face paler than usual. He turns to El. “What if we kicked him out here with us?”

The room is silent and Billy can hear everyone’s breathing. Will gets up and takes out a sheet of paper and some chalk from Mike’s drawer. Everyone follows him to the table. He starts scribbling. 

“This is him. All of him. That day on the field he attached himself to me.” Will starts. Billy listens intently, he’d never heard this part of the story from Will himself before. “My mom got it out of me, and Eleven closed the gate. But the part that’s still in me, what if it’s still in _our_ world?” Will turns the paper over and rubs his chalk-covered hands on the blank side. “In Hawkins.”

“I don’t understand. The demodogs died when El closed the gate. If the brain dies, the body dies.”

“We can’t take any chances.” Mike interrupts. “We need to assume the worst. The Mind Flayer’s back.” 

“Yeah, and if he is, he’d wanna attach himself to someone again.” Will says. Billy feels sick. “A new me.”

“A new host.” Lucas adds. 

“How can you tell if someone is a host?” El asks. 

Billy clears his throat, trying to keep the sour taste out of his mouth. “I think I’ve got a pretty good idea.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -chapter title from elton john’s song of the same name. i think it’d be an awesome song for a fight sequence to happen to, just saying 
> 
> -i just really really want el and billy and max to all be a family So So badly, can you tell?
> 
> -also anthony is steve’s middle name because i say so and that’s what everyone’s decided anyways :) how robin knows this? i don’t know, im saying that she snoops to find more info about steve for billy because she’s Like That and wants her best friend to know everything about his crush and i love her


End file.
